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Notes on Game 1 of the World Series

-So, Chase Utley’s first home run, the cheap shot into the second row on the short right field porch: would that have been out at the old Yankee Stadium, or did your and my tax dollars subsidize this one?

-What the raw bleeding hell was Chuck Manuel thinking sending Cliff Lee back out for the 9th inning? He threw 122 pitches last night, but most of the pitches past 100 were in the ninth inning of a six-run game, with a fully rested bullpen behind him, and a very good chance that you’d want to start Lee on short rest in Game 4. (Although I, like Steve Wynn, hope the series goes seven and CC pitches twice more, at least. God, what a beautiful improbable airplane hangar of a man, plus there’s something epic about aces coming back on short rest in the World Series.)

-On the plus side, at least he didn’t warm up and then use five relief pitchers the night before a game in which neither starting pitcher seems like a sure bet to make it out of the fifth inning. (This Slate piece from earlier in the week seems prescient.)

-Watching the World Series in a bar is ideal, not so much for the sense of community it engenders, but because you don’t have to listen to Joe Buck and Tim McCarver.

2 Comment

little know fact – Derek Jeter is also announced each time he bats with an audiorecording of the old announcer- and when he bats, you can hear the announcement (Numbah Two – Derek Jeetah!) it’s amazing.

Here it is:
“In 2006 Derek Jeter requested a recording of Sheppard’s voice announcing his name for any future occasion where Sheppard was unable to do so himself; the recording was made and will be used for the rest of Jeter’s career.”

And this:
“Jim Hall filled in for Sheppard as usual, with the exception of granting Derek Jeter’s wish to have Sheppard’s recording played for Jeter’s at-bats.”